GODSTUFF:

‘GOD, INC.’ PUTS ‘OFFICE’ HUMOR IN HEAVENLY SETTING

Some of the funniest moments in “God, Inc.” are produced by the “Publicity” department, a k a world religions.

For three years running, the Muslim publicist has had the best numbers (because, he says, “My marketing strategy is the one, true marketing strategy”), winning converts hand over fist, and annoying the pious (and obnoxious) Esther, who’s in charge of “Really Christians.” (Not to be confused with Andy, a slackery dude who does P.R. for the “Sort-of Christians,” who, he explains to Sarah, are the ones who go to church on Christmas and Easter and who believe. Sort of.)

To try to shake up the populations of the world’s religions, the office manager, fearsome Piper, starts a contest to see, in a week, which publicist can come up with the most new converts. The winner gets a box of steaks, which doesn’t make the Hindu publicist very happy.

Stokes, who was reared Lutheran and says he is fascinated by spirituality and “why the world is the way it is,” dreamed up “God, Inc.” over a beer with his brother-in-law, Kyle, at his home in Downers Grove last summer.

“He works in [information technology] and was just giving me some ideas,” recalled Stokes, who has been making feature-length independent films for a decade, while also working for the City of Los Angeles, “which explains my deep understanding of the workings of a bureaucratic institution.”

As YouTube.com became known as a venue for young filmmakers to get recognized, Stokes decided to go for it with “God, Inc.”

The overwhelming response has shocked no one more than Stokes, who has heard from many self-identified religious people, some of whom thought “God, Inc.” was hilarious, while others took offense. The filmmaker recalls “getting an e-mail from someone saying, ‘Is this how you think the afterlife is going to be, because I can assure you that it’s not!’ Yeah, because they know.”

Conversely, Stokes got a note from a Presbyterian minister who asked for the series on DVD so he could use it as a teaching tool in a class on spirituality, he said.

“I think it strikes a chord,” Stokes said. “A lot of people who aren’t that religious . . . feel like religions avoid a lot of questions or give them answers that don’t ring true to them. So maybe this does in some sort of silly way.”

God never appears in any of the “God, Inc.” episodes.

“That’s intentional,” Stokes says, “so that, in essence, these characters have the same questions about the grand plan that the rest of us do.”